10 SURPRISING MEDIA MOMENTS OF 2014

Every year there are surprising news moments that really
grab the media’s attention, providing them with great copy for news stories and
comment pieces. Clarion Communications spoke to a few journalists to get their
views on the ones that particularly stood out in 2014, from the selfie to the
referendum, and the ice bucket to the ‘consciously uncoupling’.

Kim
Kardashian's "break the internet" photos

Her
nude photoshoot for Paper magazine seemed to take over the web, causing
meltdown on social media and leading to newspapers running a selection of the
shots. The champagne shot has been repeated numerous times.

Ice Bucket challenge

The
viral videos were the gift that kept on giving to social media and charity.
Apparently coming from nowhere it dominated social media became a source of
stories and discussion in mainstream media.

An almost never-ending list of A-List celebrities jumped on the
bandwagon. It prompted coverage on ALS disease.

Scottish Referendum

The
"Yes" campaign turned out to be considerably stronger than
commentators had anticipated. With days to go polls showed the two camps
were level-pegging, leading the 'no' campaign to roll out the big guns.

Renee Zellweger's face

Appearing
in front of the cameras for the ElleWomen in
Hollywood Awards, she looked unrecognisable as the star of Bridget Jones,
prompting intense speculation over her apparent transformation.

U2
album giveaway

The
band gave their album away to absolutely everyone on iTunes for free - The
giveaway of 'Songs of Innocence' entered history books as it was the
largest album-release ever, with 500 million people receiving it. However it
wasn’t to everyone’s taste, with some people complaining they’d received an
album on iTunes they didn’t want

David
Moyes sacking

Manchester United sacked David Moyes after less than a season in
charge. Moyes, 51, was given the tough task of taking on the most famous club
in the world but was given the boot before even finishing his first season. His
record at the club was not actually dissimilar to Sir Alex Ferguson's
first season in charge - and his start was not as bad as Louis Van Gaal's.

Chris
& Gwyneth break up

Chris
Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow decided to "consciously uncouple"
- The Coldplay singer, 37, and the 41 year old actress shocked everyone
with their split and the way they went about it. They even coined a bizarre new
term for it - "consciously uncoupling." Chris went on to stun people
further not long after by dating star Jennifer Lawrence, 13 years his junior.

BBC Three axed from TV

Many were
shocked and infuriated at the announcement in March as the channel is widely
loved and renowned as a platform for comedy. The controller of the channel, Zai
Bennett, quit after it was announced and slammed the decision. A host of big
name comedians rallied together, starting a petition to save the show.

Germany
wipe the floor with Brazil

Germany smashing hosts Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-final -
The German thrashing of Brazil left viewers shocked and the host nation
heartbroken. The game, which was the most tweeted about thing in 2014, was
especially stunning as no major football nation had ever been destroyed at this
stage of competition in such fashion.

The
"Oscar selfie"

TV host
Ellen DeGeneres' star-studded selfie at the Oscars took social media by storm
and became the most retweeted photo on Twitter ever, creating great publicity
for Samsung. The photo has racked up more than 3.3 million retweets.

If you would like to discuss your PR requirements for
2015 please contact Debbie Jackson on 0207 343 3110 or email djackson@clarioncomms.co.uk